The San Diego Skeletal Muscle Research Center (SDMRC) is composed of 21 scientists who span five research institutions and nine academic Departments. The mission of the SDMRC is twofold: (1) to provide investigators with an effective infrastructure and environment to accelerate their cutting-edge research in an efficient and cost-effective manner, and (2) to provide an organizational structure that enhances communication amongst members and provides education and training for the San Diego community. The creation of this Center will integrate, educate and synergize laboratories on a more formalized basis than currently exists. Specifically, this Center will provide a mechanism for rapidly performing common assays needed by all investigators with minimal overhead in terms of time and money by creating three Cores: Phenotyping, Imaging, and High Throughput Cell Analysis. This will automatically enhance each of the individual programs since state-of-the-art methods will instantly become available to members. Access to new methods will undoubtedly spawn new ideas that accompany the experimental data. SDMRC will increase efficiency (since a mechanism is in place to collaborate and share information) and productivity (since studies will be routinely multidisciplinary) that will enable individuals to have a larger impact in their individual research programs than would be possible in isolation.